Three Years In A Row!

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words?

Well, this is the face that will sell

a thousand calendars."

He did it again.

For the third year in a row, Mr. Mick has been chosen to appear in the annual Bunspace calendar--proceeds from sales of which go to the House Rabbit Society.

Needless to say, we are quite thrilled and honored; his pic (the one shown above) was one of 93 chosen out of 770 entries. His Majesty did make an attempt at being humble about it, but that lasted about five minutes before he demanded extra treats and a promise of a full-bun massage later this evening.

He's already gotten some extra spoiling already; last night, we went out to dinner with some friends of mine, Kayla and Ryan. They are also bunny slaves (to Freddie, a Holland Lop, and Luna, a Silver Marten) and are longtime fans of Mr. Mick, but had never gotten the chance to meet him in person until last night. His Majesty was quite gracious; he not only allowed both of them to pet him, but to hold him as well. Kayla was even granted an extra-long snuggle session; he perched on her shoulder and gave her kisses, much to her delight. Both went home with a souvenir gift of a fur sweater, compliments of Mr. Sheddy Bun.

In other news, I was the lucky winner of the Lavender Rabbit Studios June giveaway--and look at the lovely gift I got!

Her name is Miss Anastasia, and she is just gorgeous. She came with a lovely card, and a willow ring for Mr. Mick, but I was so excited, I never got a picture of them. I snapped a couple of quick pics and put her on immediately.

Here is a closeup--she comes with a copper chain that matches her copper fastenings and background perfectly. Thanks again to Donna for giving away such a gorgeous piece--and to Dot for picking my name!





Great news at the vet's

"I said NO PICTURES...dang paparazzi..."

Still no recent Mick pics just yet, but hopefully soon...

Follow-up visit #2 was this afternoon, and we have very good news.

First of all, Mr. Mick has gained two ounces since last week's visit! I have been giving him a tablespoon of Critical Care (apple-banana flavor) twice a day--I put it on a plate, then put his greens on top and he eats it all up. Tamsin from The Rabbit House suggested giving him a little porridge of rolled oats to help with the weight gain, but I decided to add a daily pinch of dry rolled oats to his pellets instead, and he loves it! Once he's back to a weight of 5 1/2 pounds, I'll stop the Critical Care and stick to just rolled oats to help him maintain the weight. He hasn't even noticed that he's not getting his usual treats, either; I do give him a bit of dried kale now and then, and he did get a dried apple slice the other night, but overall, he's been just as happy to get what he's been getting.

Dr. Shanahan checked out his wound and said it had scabbed up so I wouldn't need to keep washing it now. There is one area that looks like a small pouch-like spot that I pointed out to her; my concern being that it could be a place where infection could be hiding. She checked it out and said that it appeared to be fine, but to keep an eye on it just in case. Worst-case scenario, she would open it up from underneath (not in the same place) if it did need to be cleaned out. Right now, all I need to do is make sure Mickey doesn't scratch at it while it's healing up; a little bacitracin on the area to keep the scab soft should keep that from happening.

She also had results of the tests taken on the ick that was cleaned out of the abscess. When Dr. Leahey did the operation, he had asked if I wanted them to analyze the stuff to see what kind of infection we were looking at. It wasn't a cheap process, but I said yes because I wanted to know exactly what we were dealing with. The test results came back as pasturella, which is fairly common and, according to Dr. Shanahan, the Baytril should have cleared it up easily. I've heard some horror stories regarding pasturella infections, so I'm glad we seem to have caught it before things got worse.

The verdict: no need for more follow-up unless something happens, no more Baytril, keep up with the weight gain plan. The improvement in Mickey's condition has been amazing; you can see how much better he is--his eyes are bigger and brighter, he looks and feels more solid. Even his poops have gotten bigger and better--the Poop Inspector would be turning cartwheels of joy in the street (if she wasn't so out of shape, anyway ;) ).

Thanks much to everyone for all your love and support while we've been dealing with this. It has been greatly appreciated. I have a bunch of other stuff to fill you in on, but that will have to wait for another post. His Majesty's been fed, and now it's my turn. :)







Follow-up #1

"Not my good side at the moment, but it's getting better..."

First off, thanks so much to everyone for all the good wishes for Mick--so sorry we couldn't answer each and every one, but we did read them all and we love you all for them.

Mr. Mick went back to the vet's for his first follow-up visit this morning. His bloodwork results were finally in, and everything is good. His protein was a wee bit high and his potassium a wee bit low, but neither are cause for alarm. His vet was surprised at the discovery of the abscess; she said that she had checked his jawline before and during his tooth-filing (she was holding his head in that area as she worked on him) and she hadn't felt it at all, so it had to have formed rather quickly. That more or less supported my thoughts on it; he would have shown signs of something like that far sooner if it had been there before, and I would have felt it myself  if it had.

Dr. Shanahan checked his wound and said that it was healing nicely. I asked her if she would clip some of the fur around the area back a bit; some of it was matting because of ick and whatnot, and I didn't want the mats pulling and bothering him. She took care of that and also cleaned the wound for me, since there were two of us to keep him still and that way she could see where the problem areas were (there's two spots where pus is still showing). She said to keep an eye on those spots, but that it looked good overall.

I asked her what the best way was to get some weight back on him, as she had weighed him and he's dropped another ounce (to be expected with everything going on, but still not good). She recommended that I give him Critical Care as a diet supplement and gave me a pack to use. She wants to see him again next week to see how things are progressing.

Once we got home, I flushed out his wound again and gave him a couple of syringes of Critical Care and his Baytril before putting him back in his cage. My sister stopped by, so His Majesty got some extra love and attention and I got an assistant to help me keep him still so I could get all that done. He's a lot fiestier now that he's feeling better, so it's been a struggle to keep him still while I clean his wound. Even putting him in a bunny burrito doesn't help all that much--I would ask the boy to hold him still, but Mick gets twice as fidgety when the boy's around as is, so that wouldn't help matters.

That's pretty much how things stand at the moment--thanks again for all the love and support, and I'll be posting more updates as things go on. 



A Bit of an Abscession

"Well, it's a good thing we got those

Bunspace calendar contest entries in when we did,

that's all I can say..."

It's a long story, and it started this past Thursday.

I brought Mickey to the vet's on Thursday for his quarterly molar-filing. As always, they pop him on the scale beforehand. The scale reads 4.08 pounds.

Wait, what?!

He can't weigh 4.08 pounds, I tell them--he weighed 5 1/2 pounds the last time I brought him in and that was three months ago. The vet checks her records and then weighs him again. Sure enough, Mr. Mick has somehow lost 1 1/2 pounds in three months. (I thought I had combed a pound of hair off him the night before, but I really didn't think I HAD taken a pound of hair off him!)

All joking aside, both Dr. Shanahan and I were very concerned. She gave him a physical exam, but didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. It was agreed that, on top of the tooth work, full x-rays and blood work would be taken and that she would go over him again while he was sedated--just in case something was being tucked away undetected. (I went through that with Mickey's predecessor, Karnage--the tumor invading his intestines was hidden under his ribcage and not detected until he was sedated and his muscles relaxed.) The hope was that the teeth were the cause of the problem and that once they were filed, he would put the weight back on, but we couldn't assume that.

Teeth were done, and we went home to await test results. All seemed to be well; Mick's usual tooth-related issues (crusty eyes, moist nose, minor sneezing) had cleared up on the spot as always and he was his usual self...until last night (Friday).

Mick had been perfectly fine during the day--he tackled me for shredded carrots and chowed the romaine lettuce I gave him. The only odd thing was that he was suddenly lounging in his litterbox instead of on his throne. I didn't think much of it, just wrote it off to the fresh hay I'd put in, which was softer than what had been in there--maybe he was feeling like munching on some hay now that his teeth were fixed.

But he didn't budge from the litterbox once he went in there.

When the time came to let him out for exercise, he finally hopped out of the litterbox and went into the dining room. I thought ok, all is good--until he parked himself under one of the dining room chairs, settled down...and didn't budge.

No running around. No begging for pets and kisses. No nothing.

He wasn't hunched, not hiding, just lounging--but it wasn't right. I finally picked him up, checked him over, gave him a short tummy massage and then put him back in his cage. He hopped right back into his litterbox and settled down again.

No begging for treats, no interest in any food--I even waved a pinch of shredded carrots in his face. Nothing.

When the world's biggest treat-fiend isn't wanting treats, it's not good.

I took him out of his cage again, took him into the living room, snuggled him, gave him a couple of syringes of water, massaged his tummy again. He tooth-purred a few times, but there was some light grinding here and there as well, which didn't make me feel any better. Finally, I gave him another syringe of  water, put him back in his cage so I could get a couple hours sleep on the couch, then checked him again about 8am this morning (Saturday).

Nothing eaten. No poops in the litterbox, and despite the water I syringed into him, no pee either.

Called the vet on the spot; they had me bring him in.

Dr. Shanahan wasn't in, but fortunately all the vets there are rabbit-savvy to varying degrees. Dr. Leahey informed me that the x-rays that had been taken on Thursday didn't show anything, and they were still waiting for the bloodwork results from the lab. He weighed Mick again, took his temperature (98.4, a bit low for a bun), then started feeling along Mick's jaw.

Suddenly, he looked at me. "Did you notice this lump before?"

Lump?! What lump?!

I put my hands where he indicated; there on Mick's left jawline was a dime-sized lump. I hadn't noticed it before, not even with all the petting he got last night.

Fortunately, the lump was in the jaw muscle and not in the jawbone itself. Dr. Leahey and I pretty much agreed that it needed to be dealt with on the spot, so Mickey got sedated again and the lump was opened up, revealing lots of ick.

Hello, abscess. Goodbye, weekend plans.

Right now, Mick has a good-sized hole in his cheek about a half-inch in diameter, give or take. My job is to administer banana-flavored Baytril once a day and keep that hole clean and ick-free. To put it in a hopefully not-gross way, it's been like trying to wipe a toothpaste tube clean, but the toothpaste keeps oozing out here and there. Fortunately, the dried veggie treats that I ordered from BinkyBunny.com chose the perfect time to show up, so His Majesty the Impatient Patient has had nommy stuff to keep him entertained. He's sitting next to me as I type this, in his spare litterbox with his flannel sheet over him to keep him from getting too chilled by the AC. He's had dried veggie treats and a bit of romaine, and more syringes of water. He's been spending all evening trying to clean himself after each time I've flushed his wound with wound wash saline. Poor bunneh--he's not going to be posing for any pics for a while, that's for sure.

I'm just glad we got in to the vet when we did, as they are closed both Sunday and Monday because of the holiday. I have been living on caffeine and frayed nerves for three days now as is--I would have been a basket case if I had chosen to wait until after the holiday. We see Dr. Shanahan on Tuesday for follow-up, so hopefully things will be looking better by then.





Hoppy Birthday, Mr. Mick!

Today is Mickey's 4th birthday, and we've already been doing some celebrating. He got his birthday present a few days early: a new throne. Two, actually, since I wasn't sure which style he would like. We're not tossing out his old throne because he still loves it (I actually caught him grooming it last night while he was out and about) but now when one throne is being washed, he has another one to lounge on instead of having to settle for an old towel or sheet.

As it turned out, it's a good thing I did buy two, because Throne #1 got rejected the very first time I offered it to him. I think it's because the sides are much higher than those on his regular throne; I thought that might be a plus so he would feel more secure, but apparently that is not the case. It's now sitting in my dining room on the off-chance that he might want to use it to relax on when he's out.

Last night, I sprinkled a few shredded carrots inside to see if I could tempt him to give it another try:

"Ooooh, what's this? Carrots on a cushion? What a novel idea...nomnomnom..."

" I'm supposed to eat the carrots while sitting on the cushion? Don't be absurd; anybun can tell that this is clearly a substandard cushion.
It's got a DOG BONE in the middle, for cryin' out loud!"

"The carrots were quite tasty, though--got any more?

Ooh, there's my treat toy--did you fill that up for me?"

Yes, his Rabbit IQ toy was filled with more shredded carrots as a birthday treat. You might remember this video:

I would have taken a more recent picture, but the boy came out and started playing "cover the treats as fast as Mick can uncover them", a game which His Majesty found surprisingly entertaining. He started flipping those covers so fast that the boy could barely keep up, and got so excited that the boy stopped playing because he thought he was upsetting Mick. Tired him out was more like it; I scooped up Mick for a calming snuggle and he relaxed against me immediately. A half-hour snuggle and he was ready to bop around again, so I set him down.

 

After a while, all the exertion caught up to the birthday bun...

 

 

...so it was back to his cage and the comfort of New Throne #2, which was far more to Mr. Mick's liking:

Throne #2 is just as plushy-soft as his original throne, but is larger and has no sides. You can just see the corner of the original in the lower left corner.

"Oh yes, this will do...mmmmm...zzzzzzzzz"

A belly full of shredded carrots and a nice cozy bed to sleep in, what more could a bunny want?

Spring Interlude

Thanks much to everyone for all the well-wishes. I had been so hoping to dodge allergy season, but it got me anyway. Feeling much better now, so I thought I would take a page from everyone's book and show off our outdoor pretties.

Unfortunately, not all of it is pretty. All that stupid snow we got decimated the rhododendron in front of our house:

We're hoping it'll come back, but it still breaks my heart to see it like this, especially when this is what it looked like two years ago:

Fortunately, the rhody in the backyard has not only survived, but thrived:



Because it's in the backyard, it blooms much later than the one in the front, which is good because the front yard one often ended up getting hit by the last frost of the winter just as it was blooming.

Hubby has both his gardens set up; this is his flower garden surrounding our waterfall pond:

Because it's a mix of wildflowers and nursery plants, it tends to look a little overgrown (it also looks like that because hubby isn't always diligent with garden maintenance, but we won't go into that). I found the perfect garden stone for it a couple of years ago:

Oh yes, it lives up to its name and then some... :)

This is his vegetable garden:



It's not very big, but that's how we like it. There's tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, lettuce and a few other things that I forget. He even added a couple of basil plants for Mr. Mick. We're just hoping the fershlugginer chipmunks will let us have some of it this year.

Back to the front yard: hubby found some lovely hanging baskets this year:

The perennials at the bottom surprised us by coming back quite strong, and hubby's added a couple more so that he won't have to worry about that space next year.

Milo the bunny statue has his annual batch of impatiens again:

He is an excellent gardener: yes, impatiens are hardy plants, but the ones that grow in his wheelbarrow always bloom biggest and best of all our plants.



And just in case you were looking for a certain spoiled rotten wabbit:

"Hmph...Like anyone comes here to look at plants..."



Mr. Mick's Musings

Hey all, Mickey here. Mum has been under the weather with something she calls "hay fever", so I've taken it upon myself to update you on things. (Personally, I don't get this hay fever thing--she's around my hay all the time with barely a sniffle, so why the problems now?)

Anyway, just to let you know, I am doing perfectly fine. Thanks much to everyone for being so concerned for my well-being; I do appreciate the sentiment, although I could have told you that there was nothing wrong--I just wanted a higher quality of meal, that's all. Honestly, would it kill Mum to make me a proper salad once in a while? I did finally convince her to add a pinch of shredded carrots to my breakfast greens, so all is good for now.

Like what you see? The Boy has been proving himself useful for once; he has taken on the job of being my official photographer for promotional purposes. The Bunspace.com calendar contest is under way and I am hoping to be chosen for the 2012 calendar. The money raised by the contest and calendar sales goes to benefit the House Rabbit Society , so it's very important stuff--and you know if I'm in there, there will be lots of calendars sold. Don't get me wrong, Mum takes some very nice pictures of me, but the Boy has this real fancy-schmancy camera and he really knows how to make me look good. All the pictures in this post were taken by him.

In other news, I have been getting to spend a lot of time in the living room lately. Mum said it's because the Yankees are playing on the West Coast right now, so the games have been on late at night during my exercise time. She can't watch the big TV and be on the computer, so I get to play in the living room while the game is on. (I don't know where this West Coast is, but if having the Yankees play there means I get to be in the living room, can they play there all the time?)

Last night, though, the game ended earlier than expected, so she had the nerve to shoo me out and put up the gates! I showed her, though; when she was busy on the computer, I did some snooping around and found a way to get up on top of my cage again. I even found the box where she keeps all my treats! I pulled everything out of the box--the dried dandelion blossoms, the dried apple slices, the dried papaya/pineapple bits--I tried to get at the treats inside, but I couldn't get the apple slices and dandelion bags open, and in my haste to get the papaya bits (that bag was open), I knocked the bag off the side of the cage. Mum heard the noise and came to investigate. She shooed me off the cage top and put me back in my cage, then started putting everything back. She freaked when she couldn't find the papaya bag, thinking I might have eaten them all (and trust me, I would have!) but then she found it and it was all good...well, for her it was--I wanted treats!

Well, that's pretty much what's been going on with me. Mum will probably have more to report when she's feeling better. I'm heading for the throne for a well-deserved nap now. This blogging stuff is so tiring...See ya later!